please talk to me about achy muscles & ,uscle weakness

[MAXI]

Hi all
I'm having an awful evening & need your kind words please.
Although i'm starting to feel better in myself since starting citalopram my muscle symptoms have not improved, in fact they seem to be deteriotaing despite me having no other symptoms of anxiety.

Every task leaves my muscles achy & fatigued, my arms, hands legs & feet feel so weak & I have no strength. My knee gave way earlier which totally freaked me. My limbs just feel constantly exhausted.

I'm trying to shake the fear that I have some progressive muscle disease but its getting harder.
Please share with me any experience of similar problems

Many thanks
Max

[kimmy]

often the side effect are that your muscles hurt and to which extent is everyone is diffrent. I felt I had to constantly stretch my muscles which were tight (often I would yawn with this)

Another common symptom of anxiety in general is muscles being clenched and tense, you may be doing this subconciously- I did have you considered some gentle Yoga?

Try not to panic xxx

[MAXI]

Thanks Kimmy, I know you answered my post the other night (similar subject) Can I ask how long did your muscles take to start to recover??

[sheba2]

Hi Maxi.

Your muscle pains could easily be because of tension and that would also casu the weak feeling. I too suffer from both of these and in fact it was that feeling of exhaustion in my muscles that triggered off my panic. Has your gp done any blood test to see if there is any other cause.

There is something called fybromyalgia which can also cause this type of muscle problem I was diagnosed with this several years ago and then because of raised inflamation levels in my blood it was changed to polymyalgia rheumatica but now is being altered once again probably back to fybro. It is apparently a difficult thing to diagnose. Do you have any tender spots on your body or limbs. Have you recently had any viral infections. It may be worth looking at the fybromyalgia uk site as this will give you more information. I know that we tend not to look things up but I spent so long feeling ill and weak it was a relief to get a diagnosis (just wish they wouldn't keep changing their minds) Hope you feel better soon.

[MAXI]

thanks for that Sheba i'm hoping that the muscle symptoms are the last of the anxiety symptoms to go. I'm not aware that i'm tensing my muscles but i suppose i could be. I no longer feel anxious but the muscle symptoms have not improved
Even holding the phone to my ear makes my arm ache, I constantly feel like i've had a huge workout.
I have had a full range of blood tests done by the GP & all came back clear.
I'll have a look at that website.
Thanks again
Max x

[precious78]

Max

This sounds exactly how I feel. I had a fantastic day yesterday, no panic whatsoever and I feel like I am finally coming out the other side, but today I feel wiped out. My arms and legs are useless and weak and trembly and I worry the same as you that there is something more sinister going on.

I have had routine blood tests which were normal but I worry that they could be missing something. I feel like an elderly person I have so little energy. I have bursts sometimes when I feel like I can do things and then feel really tired and achy afterwards.

[MAXI]

Precious, its so good to know someone else feels the same way. I have been advised to try pacing each day rather than doing lots one day & then feeling nackered the next.
So you do a daily plan of all your essential activities & build in regular half hour rest breaks, so that your body re learns how to function on its natural energy levels rather than adrenalin.
Feel free to pm me if you fancy a chat.
Max x

[kellie]

I feel like that today, my muscles are so weak and tierd like that im achy all over and i carnt function right. i feel like i have slept on a bed of rocks and someone has stole all my muscle mass. at the moment i couldnt get my way out of a wet paper bag
Hopefully after a long soak tonight i will feel better tomorrow.

take care

kellie.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Piglet]

This happens to me regularly too!

Love Piglet :flowers:

[Eleven]

I'm really struggling with this at the mo. My limbs feel so tired. Just went for a walk and my legs felt like they might buckle any minute. Stupidly I then started running to prove something to myself and they then felt worse! I have twitching all over too.

Been on Citalopram for just over 1 week now....

[janeybaby25]

When I was diagonsed with anxiety, I had this, it was horrible. My mum who is a nurse says it could be cos I was so tense all the time & cos I am seizing my body up as was a nervous wreck! Also, I used to get the feeling that my legs would just give way. I didn't even like getting up to use the loo!

[agent orange]

I have suffered like this for several years. I originally had a blood test to check and recently I had an MRI to rule other things out, all was negative so I put it down to tension, stress/anxiety. Muscles apparently can have a memory and hold onto this tension for ages, i was told this by the person who does the massage. I would recommend a massage. I typically get these tensions and pain in my neck, arms, shoulders, thighs and calf muscles as well as other joints.

[Dooges]

Hi there everyone,
Muscle twitcing, vibrations, pulsing and a few more i've either had or expirencing right now. Am I worried about them. ABSOLUTELY ...... Am I worried about them as much as I was 4 weeks ago ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!
I did the whole DR and specialist thing like most of us, spending a crap load of money for them to tell me it's anxiety.
And like most of you I'm guessing you didn't realy believe them. Wel I didn't anyway. Deep down your thinking they must be missing something.
Short answer. The fear you feeling because of your muscle symptoms, or any symptoms, for that matter, will only keep your symptoms persistant.
You see fear releases stress hormones into your body that does a whole range of things to it to get it ready for the fight or flight response. One of the main ones is to tense your muscles. And yes you might not even know your doing it. I didn't.
Another fact... There is no quick fix for anxiety related symptoms. You have to give your body sufficient rest. Research suggests that for the amount of time it took your body to get to this stage of anxiety, it will typically take 4 times that amount of time to get back to normal. But this wont happen if you continually worry about it. It's not easy, but it's someting I'm slowly lerning how to do.
There are four steps ( as per Claire Weekes book " Complete Self Help for Your Nerves" )
1. Understanding: Learn why your body is having these symptoms

2. Accept: After going to the Dr to check things out and your told that it is anxiety, Accept it. Anxiety wont kill you and neither will the symptoms. Once you accept this your fear levels will fall and eventually so will your symtoms

3. Floating: If you suffer panic attacks learn to float through the experience. Panic attack won't hurt you either.

4. Let time pass: Patience is the key here. As i stated earlier, there is no quick fix for anxiety. Medication will mask the effect but not get to the root of the problem. It may however give you some clarity to understand your condition and recognise your next course of action without meds.

I've done two things to set me on this path.

1. Get the book I mentioned above. If nothing else it will give you peice of mind and set you on the right path.

2. I joined a website called www.anxietycentre.com (http://www.anxietycentre.com) This website takes you on a path of knowledge and therapy. Very similar to CBT. It's a canadian wwebsite so the exchange rate is in your favour and will cost you very little.
For the benefits it's given me it may be the best money you ever spent. I'm only talking like 15 pounds.

I'm also seeing my work pysch, only 1 session so far but she totally agrees with what I'm doing and has checked out the site and says it is very good also.

Please send me a message and let me know if this info has helped anyone at all, or message me to ask about anything else i have mentioned.
Cheers
Dooges